Here’s to a great British business, oft derided but in its own way spectacular: the humble JD Wetherspoon, led by its inimitable founder Tim Martin.
When he started his business he perhaps wouldn’t have expected he’d rewrite the British night out and create a rite of passage for skint students but that he has.
We are not always good in this country at celebrating the most functional, and effective, of businesses.
The success of Gregg’s is often accompanied by a wry smile.
The results from the London-listed operators of Poundland are used almost exclusively as a metric of an economic slowdown, despite the extraordinary commercial feat of selling quite so much for so little and still finding margin.
Spoons is in that category.
What is a business for? Creating jobs, delivering shareholder value, and keeping this miraculous show we call capitalism on the road.
For all the AI bubble hype and for all the exciting innovation in businesses with names that don’t make sense, we must too celebrate the success of those who just get on with the job, often unsexily.
It is easy for governments to rinse those businesses, as Tim Martin warned yesterday.
Hospitality has taken a kicking in recent years and life has not been made easier by the tax regime. The new government must look after our most solid businesses, like JD Wetherspoon, as well as the most exciting.